This study provides a better understanding of the business and legal environment surrounding Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Key stakeholders involved are the firms launching ICOs, the investors and the financial regulators. We conducted a case study of a firm that launched an ICO, impak Finance, the first regulated ICO in Canada. Based on the interviews of key respondents and documentation analyses, we developed a framework identifying the main risks and benefits for firms to perform an ICO and differentiating between unregulated and regulated ICOs. Our study makes a number of research and practical contributions. First, we document the case of the first legal ICO in Canada through the examination of documents and interviews with key stakeholders. The interviews conducted provided access to privileged insider information. Second, very few studies have been conducted on the economic impact of disruptive technologies, such as blockchains, as an important investment financing innovation vehicle. ICOs using blockchains is disruptive not only from a technology standpoint but also from a financial standpoint. While the possible applications of blockchains are unknown to us to date, we do know that blockchains have the potential to challenge the traditional financial system monitored by financial regulators. Lastly, the study identifies, through a framework, the risks and benefits of performing an ICO in an unregulated versus a regulated context, which has practical implications for firms operating in the FinTech space. We trust that this framework will be useful for future research, for firms operating in the crypto space and for financial regulators.

中文翻译：

---

首次代币发行的风险和收益：来自受监管 ICO 的impak Finance 的证据*

这项研究让我们更好地了解了初始硬币产品 (ICO) 的商业和法律环境。涉及的主要利益相关者是发起 ICO 的公司、投资者和金融监管机构。我们对一家发起 ICO 的公司进行了案例研究，impak Finance，这是加拿大第一个受监管的 ICO。基于对主要受访者的采访和文件分析，我们开发了一个框架，确定公司执行 ICO 的主要风险和收益，并区分不受监管和受监管的 ICO。我们的研究做出了许多研究和实际贡献。首先，我们通过文件审查和与主要利益相关者的访谈来记录加拿大第一个合法 ICO 的案例。进行的采访提供了获得特权内幕信息的途径。第二，关于区块链等颠覆性技术作为重要的投资融资创新工具的经济影响的研究很少。使用区块链的 ICO 不仅从技术角度而且从财务角度来看都具有破坏性。虽然迄今为止我们还不知道区块链的可能应用，但我们确实知道区块链有可能挑战由金融监管机构监控的传统金融体系。最后，该研究通过一个框架确定了在不受监管和受监管的环境中进行 ICO 的风险和收益，这对在金融科技领域运营的公司具有实际意义。我们相信该框架将对未来的研究、在加密领域运营的公司和金融监管机构有用。